Very early on this year I drew the conclusion that there is no better or more qualified man in this country to be president than Al Gore. Since then I joined my local Meetup group, I started talking with friends and family, I created Netroots for Gore, and I worked with the America for Gore steering committee, all for the sole purpose of trying to convince Al to jump into the race in 2008.
Don't get me wrong - if Gore jumped in tomorrow, I still strongly believe that he would not only compete, but he would win the nomination and general election. A "blind bio" Zogby poll released last night shows Gore with a nifty 11 point lead over Hillary; a CBS poll from last week shows very competitive results as well. And that's all without getting a single endorsement, spending a single dollar, or having a volunteer knock on a single door. In a span of less than a year his movie won an Oscar, he won an Emmy, he wrote a NYT bestselling book, he organized the biggest series of concerts this world has ever seen, and of course, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. I challenge anyone to show me a candidate with half the accolades that Al does.
But none of that matters if the former vice president refuses to throw his hat into the ring. We've called him, we've taken out full page ads, we've chanted "run Al, run" at nearly every public event he's at, and we've even started ballot initiatives in many states. Thanks to the extraordinarily generous contributions by thousands of people, we're even airing a TV ad, starting tomorrow, on CNN and in New Hampshire.
We'll likely never know if we ever stood a shot at actually convincing Gore to get in. Sure, there's a lot that went wrong, especially in the beginning, but I think we did an amazing job in demonstrating that there is indeed a groundswell of support for him to run again...and honestly, other than that, there's not much else we could have done. I also have to say I'm a little disappointed. No, I'm not disappointed in him choosing not to run - I fully respect that decision - but I'm quite disappointed that he has said nothing to us. In 2002, he saved us the trouble and told us to stop. This time though, he issued no such statement and many of us took that as a sign that we should continue our work. Blood, sweat, and tears were poured into this non-campaign campaign, and for him to give us absolutely no sign or word that he was leaning one way or the other is a little disheartening. If he had simply said "I have decided I will not become a candidate in 2008," as he did a few years ago, we would have respected his wishes and stopped in our tracks.
I still strongly believe that he was considering running for much of this past year - in addition to acknowledging that there's no more powerful position in the world, he actually said that he'd love to be president. Many months ago, I was actually convinced that he was going to run. So what exactly held him back? I, along with countless others, have a few theories, but they're not worthing getting into now.
The movement to draft Gore was truly a fascinating experience. Especially over the past month or two, it gained an incredible amount of traction, both in the media and on the ground in terms of results. In fact, I'm willing to bet that our non-campaign was more of a campaign than a number of those actually running for president. It was a people-powered movement in its truest form - Al was hesitant to run, but we damn well sure wanted him to run. Instead of sitting back and hoping, we actively and aggressively did everything we could in our power to change his mind. Politics isn't all about drafting candidates, but there's an important lesson to be taken away from all this: we, as loyal members of the Democratic Party, deserve a seat at the table. We will not accept the status quo of big money and lobbyist influence - we want leaders who will listen to us. If they wont, we'll find ourselves new leaders. We must tirelessly work to get our message, our beliefs, and our convictions heard.
Tomorrow is the New Hampshire filing deadline, and barring a unforeseeable miracle, Al Gore will not be on the ballot. There will still be some people organizing write-in campaigns and ballot initiatives around the country, but I will not be one of them. Even though he never definitively said no, I respect his wishes that he does not want to be a candidate this time around. That and the fact that my nerves simply wouldn't be able to hold up much longer. Despite me not continuing alongside with you, please know that I'll be pulling for you guys every step of the way; there is truly nothing I'd like to see more than a successful draft. I hope though that you understand why I personally cannot continue.
The people I worked with come from all stripes of life, but are united by one overarching theme - seeing to it that this country is in far better hands that it has been the past seven years. And for that, I thank you - working with you all has been a tremendous pleasure and a fulfilling experience, even if we fell short in our ultimate goal. Now though, we must concentrate all our efforts on electing a Democrat to the White House, because four more years of Republican rule will, believe it or not, be more devastating than the previous four.
I don't yet know who I'll support in the primaries - it'll likely be Edwards, Obama, or Dodd - but I'll first take a few days to reflect on the past many months. And then it's back to fighting the good fight.